Mary Ellen Coogan: My sense of community is freshly baked

When we moved to Bedford ten years ago, I was attracted to the idea of a safe place to raise my kids. What better place than a small bedroom community?

Surrounded by construction, this seemingly quaint notion applies, although not in the romantic sense I had imagined. Traffic is now so bad we spend a great deal of our time trying to drive out of Bedford to get to work, and after a long day parked in stop and go traffic on the freeway, we are so tired we mostly just sleep here waiting for the next commute to begin.

Our community seems to be evolving into the sort of place people will drive through on their way to someplace else, where greater, more exciting things are happening.

My kids were among these people. They may not have fully embraced the city motto that “Life is better in Bedford.” Two have moved to Houston to go to graduate school. See what happens when these big highway construction projects begin?

But something has renewed my idea of what makes a community. Besides our fabulous library and a few good restaurants, I have discovered a pasteleria within about a block of my house. It is a magical place. They have a wonderful statement printed on their business cards – “Where the flavor talks for us!”

There is always something fresh and wonderful baking there. The same couple is always there. They are friendly and offer great service. You can see their amazing work going on behind the scenes in the kitchen, just beyond the counter.

I have seen each of them at one visit or the next remove freshly baked cakes from the oven. Rows of incredible Tres leches and Chocoflan cakes wait for frosting or personal touches like extra chocolate, nuts or decorations they offer to put on for you.

They remembered when my husband came in a couple of weeks ago to pick up a cake for my daughter’s back-to-back graduations. Two weeks in a row we went there, not knowing of any better dessert to celebrate the occasions.

This is what the first summer of my empty nest is about. Having a place to call my neighborhood bakery, a place to pick up great desserts to bring to parties with all the friends I am suddenly freer to see, a place to pick up a piece of cake to cheer up a friend in the hospital, and, eventually, not too long from now, a place to pick up the dessert that will celebrate my kids’ first visit home from the big city.

I hope it will be one more thing for them to remember about our little town. I imagine that we will continue to go to this bakery, to celebrate the happy occasions, to mourn the sad ones, and sometimes we will go there just to find something delicious that helps us to cope. But each time we go there, what they offer will help us.

They let the flavor speak. What I hear is be kind to each other. Love your family and treasure all the small moments with them.

It is nice to feel nurtured after years of nurturing. I feel grateful. The small pleasures make life so great. On bad days, they make it bearable. Just when you think your work is done, there is something just around the corner yet to be discovered. I can’t wait to find out what’s next.

Mary Ellen Coogan is a personal assistant and a Community Voices volunteer columnist. Her email address is maryellencoogan@gmail.com.

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